Franky 2018-04-29 Crisia Regalado at Simone’s in Sin Color’s Chicago Debut. Photo: Jean Marc Lavoie
Crisia’s voice is sheer, transparent, ethereal. It is a voice that flows, goes up, down, and caresses the sensibility of the listener. It captivates, liberates. It is the vitality of poetry. It is the whisper of a persistent angel. Crisia was born musically gifted, with a prodigious voice.
“I sing from the heart,” she tells me smiling. The musical itch runs through her body, el...

Franky Piña 2017-07-25
Deivid Rojas is a poet, documentarian; he’s seduced by history and politics is his passion. His conscience awoke the moment he migrated from Colombia to the U.S. He arrived in Miami when he was eight years old. The idea of emigrating was his parents’. Latin America’s financial and political stability went up in smoke again. And the idea of a ‘future with better educational and economic opportunities for the family’ could only happen outside of Bogotá. Migra...

Franky Piña and Rocío Santos 2017-07-14Left to Right: Ariann Manzanares, Emmanuel García, Tanya Cordova, Reyna Ortiz and Drae James. Photo: Rocío Santos
Being a Trans Latinx woman in Chicago means living in constant disadvantage. As Ariann Manzanares argues, it also means, “breaking the establishment.” “It means to break the imposed obstacles by the State, the church, medicine, and society.” Living as a Trans Latinx also requires to “visibilize transsexualism in the political, soci...

Parker Asmann 2016-09-26Jennicet Eva Gutiérrez. Photo: Courtesy
Jennicet Eva Gutiérrez interrupting President Obama at a White House LGBT pride event last August was arguably one of the biggest moments for the LGBTQA community in 2015. As the one year anniversary approaches, the trans Latina activist has maintained the fight by traveling around the country to spread awareness of the inequalities and injustices that the trans, Latinx and undocumented communities still face.
With symbolic victorie...

Leticia Cortez 2016-06-01Dr. Ella May. Photo Courtesy
I first heard Rev. Dr. Wendy Ella May on National Public Radio’s The Takeaway. She talked about LGBT and transgender rights, and especially North Carolina’s HB2 ordinance (better known as the Bathroom Bill). The “Hate Bill,” as Rev. May calls it, was passed on March 23, 2016. I contacted her to ask her a few questions on this matter and on the fact that she is the first LGBT candidate to run for elected office in Johnston County. She is runni...

2014-08-14
La venadita (little dear), 1946, Frida Kahlo.
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Currently, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago is featuring an exhibition related to the celebrated Mexican artist: Unbound: Contemporary Art After Frida Kahlo. So, what are the reasons for coming back to the work and influence of the iconic Mexican painter in Chicago? Is Kahlo’s legacy still alive? Is her artwork transcending the abundant noise around her portraits that one can even find in a coffee mug? El BeiSMan...